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Anthropological Research Methods in Business Administration: Migration and Translation Within the Social Sciences

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Enterprise as an Instrument of Civilization

Part of the book series: Translational Systems Sciences ((TSS,volume 4))

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Abstract

In this chapter, I consider the advantages and reasons for employing anthropological methods within business administration studies. I examine the rationale for using anthropological methods not only for targeted issues but also from social science methodological perspectives. I begin by briefly examining the purposes for which anthropological methods have been employed in previous studies on business. I then demonstrate a progression in the use of anthropological methods for studying globalization issues. Regarding methodological perspectives, I discuss two issues. The first concerns problems related to the use of a (social) science outside of its birthplace or its original context. Questioning the universality of science, I discuss the translation and transposition of science using migration as a metaphor. The second issue concerns the social constructionism perspective that considers science as a social construct. This implies contingency and emphasizes a process-as-construction approach. I suggest that these features of social constructionism are applicable to business studies. Using an illustrative example from the use of numbers, I conclude that science and scientific observation are neither always value neutral nor are they culturally neutral. Anthropological methods are evidently valuable for recovering the context that is stripped away and unavailable for scientific observation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    When Warner joined the experiments, he was an instructor at Harvard University. Later, he was appointed professor of anthropology and sociology at the University of Chicago (1935–1959) (Browman and Williams 2013, pp. 444–445).

  2. 2.

    Wren (1987), pp. 241, 279.

  3. 3.

    Jordan (2003), pp. 2–6.

  4. 4.

    See Suchman (1987).

  5. 5.

    Jordan (2003), p. 3.

  6. 6.

    For a survey of business anthropology studies, see Baba (2012).

  7. 7.

    Watson (2006), pp. 196–197.

  8. 8.

    For a study of science from the viewpoint of postcolonial studies, see Anderson (2009).

  9. 9.

    Hiddleston (2009), pp. 1–2.

  10. 10.

    Livingstone (2003), p. 3.

  11. 11.

    Livingstone (2003), p. 4.

  12. 12.

    Livingstone (2003), p. 14.

  13. 13.

    Hanson (1958), p. 19.

  14. 14.

    Livingstone (2003), p. 48.

  15. 15.

    Gergen (2009), p. 29.

  16. 16.

    Gergen (2009), p. 63.

  17. 17.

    For a review of the social construction of technology, see Pinch (1995).

  18. 18.

    Latour (2005) cites three articles: Latour (1988), Callon (1986), and Law (1986) that led to the inception of ANT.

  19. 19.

    Law (1999), p. 4.

  20. 20.

    Latour (1999), p. 15.

  21. 21.

    Latour (1999), pp. 20–21.

  22. 22.

    Sismond (2010), p. vii.

  23. 23.

    Hacking (1999), p. 21.

  24. 24.

    Hacking (1999), pp. 60–61.

  25. 25.

    Hacking (1999), p. 38.

  26. 26.

    For a study on the anthropology of numbers, see Crump (1990).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan

    Yoshiyuki Takeuchi

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  1. Yoshiyuki Takeuchi
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Correspondence to Yoshiyuki Takeuchi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Suita City Museum, Suita, Osaka, Japan

    Hirochika Nakamaki

  2. Faculty of Business Administration, Tottori University of Environmental Studies, Tottori, Japan

    Koichiro Hioki

  3. College of Economics, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan

    Izumi Mitsui

  4. Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan

    Yoshiyuki Takeuchi

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Takeuchi, Y. (2016). Anthropological Research Methods in Business Administration: Migration and Translation Within the Social Sciences. In: Nakamaki, H., Hioki, K., Mitsui, I., Takeuchi, Y. (eds) Enterprise as an Instrument of Civilization. Translational Systems Sciences, vol 4. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54916-1_8

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